Michelle Goldchain

| michelle.goldchain@wtop.com

Time to cool down! Whether you’re craving gelato, soft serve, frozen custard, ice cream or something else that is just sweet and cold enough, WTOP has a list focused on the most reliable neighborhood spots for a scoop, sundae or something truly inventive.

Across the D.C. region, frozen desserts go well beyond the standard chocolate-and-vanilla cone. Local shops and restaurants are serving everything from Filipino halo-halo and Japanese kakigori to Afghan sheer yakh, mango kulfi, fruit-blended New Zealand-style soft serve and ice cream infused with unexpected ingredients such as Old Bay, black sesame and saffron.

Some of these destinations are longtime neighborhood institutions, while others are newer shops, restaurant-only offerings or pop-ups worth tracking down before they disappear. Here are 30 places to find ice cream, gelato, custard and other frozen treats throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Found in Virginia and Maryland, Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream proves that sometimes it’s the simple things in life that result in the most comfort. Along with flavors like “Super Oreo” and “Pralines and Honey,” there are also more unique flavors like ube, Thai iced tea and lychee sorbet.

For something seasonal, head to Sarah’s Handmade Ice Cream to order the summer peach Melba, which has a raspberry puree mixed in, or the Key West key lime with graham cracker bits for an extra dose of happiness. Find Sarah’s in various locations in Maryland.

For fleeting flavors, The Charmery is known to collaborate with local businesses, farms and even artists and musicians to create limited-time sweets that are as memorable as they are temporary. One of the quirkier flavors is a caramel ice cream base flavored with Old Bay seasoning. Don’t just expect pints, but ice cream pies as well. Find The Charmery across several sites in Maryland, plus one location at Walter Reed in D.C.

As one of the oldest-running, continuously-operated ice cream shops in the D.C. region, Pop’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream is a local favorite in Virginia’s Old Town neighborhood. While the location has been on King Street for 50 years now, founder Ray “Pop” Giovanni has been in the ice cream and dessert business since the 1940s, even famously serving first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

When WTOP visited Mount Desert Island Ice Cream in D.C.’s Mount Pleasant, it was made known by an employee that no tasters are allowed. It’s a lesson in learning that sometimes diving in blind to new experiences and flavors can be a good thing — with flavors like butterbeer, black sesame and cosmopolitan. The company is based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with additional locations in Japan.

WTOP News has given you a look inside Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream, an ideal destination for Filipino ice cream flavors. Along with ube, the owners recommended their buko pandan, calamansi and Philippine mango ice cream as well. Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream has three locations in Northern Virginia, in Arlington, Vienna and National Landing.